HUDDERSFIELD Giants acting head coach Chris Thorman admitted he went “ballistic” with his players at half-time and wonders why they needed that to react against Castleford Tigers.

They were 28-6 down following an abject opening 40 minutes even taking into account missing 10 first-team players.

Chris Thorman

However, they stirred into action with a fine second half display, the highlight being two tries for 17-year-old winger Innes Senior on his home debut.

They recovered to 30-22 late on before ultimately losing 40-28 and former Giants player Thorman – in charge for the third game since Rick Stone’s sacking – said: “I did go ballistic.

“It was a crescendo of profanity but I told them it shouldn’t take me to lose my rag and get personal with plenty of them – as I did -– to get a response.

“We saw some good execution out there in the second half and I was really happy with the way Innes finished his tries.

“It just shows why he’s one of the most capable 17 year-olds I’ve ever seen – apart from his twin brother (Louis) on the other wing who didn’t quite get the same service!”

Until Alex Foster crossed for his brace in the 72nd minute it looked like Castleford would fail to score a try in the second half for a fourth game in five outings.

Coach Daryl Powell admitted: “We just seem to be coming out with a complete different mentality in the second half and it’s something we have to change.

“We’ve just had a good chat about it in the changing rooms. We’ll have to start giving fans half their money back at this rate.”

England scrum-half Luke Gale was absent after ‘rolling’ his ankle in training and prolific winger Greg Eden was unable to appear in the second half for Tigers after suffering a recurrence of his hamstring problem on his first game back.